Disinfecting Today’s Athletic Facilities

According to the CDC, disinfecting athletic facilities is a critical step in preventing the spread of infectious and potentially deadly germs like MRSA.

At the professional level, the NFL.com reported, “Despite five surgeries to treat a serious staph infection, doctors may need to amputate the foot of New York Giants tight end Daniel Fells. The infection was caused by MRSA, a life-threatening antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection.”

At the high school level, there are an increasing number of MRSA outbreaks occurring in locker rooms, gyms and on the field of play. For example, a study in the New England Journal of Medicine linked MRSA to abrasions caused by artificial turf. Three studies by the Texas State Department of Health found that the infection rate among football players was 16 times the national average. In 1974, MRSA infections accounted for 2% of the total number of staph infections, in 1995 it was 22%, and by 2004, it rose to 63%.

Electrostatics is science and a proven process that has been used in the agricultural and automotive industries for decades.

Most surface areas are neutral (uncharged) or negative. The patented EM360 applies disinfectant to a target surface area using an electrostatic force of attraction called Coulomb’s Law. Using Coulomb’s law, the EM360 technology places a positive charge on the disinfectant as it leaves the spray nozzle. Because most surface areas are neutral or negative, the EM360’s positively charged system optimizes surface adhesion and attraction (electromagnetic theory). The dispersed droplets spread out more evenly and seek out negative (-) or neutrally charged surfaces (neutral surfaces have the same number of protons as electrons – a neutral object can be polarized by a charged object and create attraction). The disinfectant is more targeted, provides more consistent coverage with less waste, and like two magnets, attracted to the oppositely charged surface with remarkable force.